The then-co-leader of Google’s small ethical AI team argued in a paper she published that AI “overrepresent hegemonic viewpoints and encode biases potentially damaging to marginalized populations.”

This then triggered a cascade of events that culminated in her eventual Google exit in 2020. According to Gebru she was fired, but the tech giant claims it was voluntary.

Gebru, along with fellow researchers Emily M. Bender, Angelina McMillan-Major, and Margaret Mitchell, co-wrote a paper titled, “On the dangers of stochastic parrots: Can language models be too big?” and which discussed issues surrounding AI. These included how large language models basically repeat statements of data and add verbal noise to make them seem like intelligent speech.

In a statement on March 23, the authors of the paper also spoke out against the use of their paper in an Elon Musk-backed campaign to pause AI research for six months, citing future risks to mankind.

They pointed out, “Such language that inflates the capabilities of automated systems and anthropomorphizes them, as we note in Stochastic Parrots, deceives people into thinking that there is a sentient being behind the synthetic media. This not only lures people into uncritically trusting the outputs of systems like ChatGPT, but also misattributes agency.”

Their statement also takes to task the tech companies that are developing AI systems without regard for how the development may make current inequities – such as racial and gender biases – worse. Gebru and company said that “we should focus on the very real and very present exploitative practices of the companies claiming to build them, who are rapidly centralizing power and increasing social inequities.”

In a live interview, Maria Ressa and Timnit Gebru will talk about the moral and political questions surrounding AI, as well as ways toward breaking down the biases and inequalities that are built into it.

Rappler+ members will be able to join the private Q&A (Live chat) after the interview at 9 am (Manila time) on Thursday, June 1. If you want to attend, join Rappler+ and gain access to other events like this.

Members get exclusive content and become part of a global community of people who believe in the power of independent journalism. – Rappler.com

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After the interview, Rappler+ members were able to ask her questions directly. Members asked about the role of Filipinos abroad, what the minority bloc would look like in the Senate, mental health, and what she learned from her campaign. You can watch the full recording of the private Q&A below:

Password: m1noritybl0c

Hontiveros is known as a staunch advocate for health and women’s rights, having crafted laws such as the Expanded Maternity Leave Law, the Safe Streets and Public Spaces Law, and the Philippine Mental Health Law. For her second term as senator, she intends to prioritize the consolidation of universal health care under the Universal Health Care Act, which she co-sponsored and co-authored.

Under a Marcos presidency, Hontiveros will be the highest-ranking opposition figure. She says that to help ensure the Senate’s independence, a genuine Senate minority bloc must be formed.

In this next episode of Hold The Line, Rappler CEO and first Filipino Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa will discuss what it means for Hontiveros to stand her ground as an opposition figure in an administration that enjoys high popularity ratings.

Must Read

Next Senate minority bloc must preserve ‘critical stance,’ says Hontiveros

Bookmark this page to catch the interview live on Tuesday, June 7, at 10 am. Rappler+ members will get to join the private Q&A after the interview. To join Rappler+, sign-up below:

– Rappler.com

In the interview, Haugen explains how she decided to come out as a whistleblower against a large and powerful company like Facebook. After joining the company, she quickly learned about the real-world consequences of Facebook outside the United States which is what drove her to start taking action as an individual.

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Maria Ressa talks to Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen

After Maria Ressa’s interview, the conversation continued with members asking about how to push for transparency around Facebook algorithms and groups. Watch the full video below:

Password: WhistleblowerOnRappler+

On February 2 (Wednesday), she will interview author and professor Margaret Heffernan. She is the author of six books, including  “Willful Blindness : Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril,” which is considered one of the best business books of the decade by the Financial Times. In 2015, Heffernan was awarded the Transmission Prize for  A Bigger Prize: Why Competition isn’t Everything and How We Do Better, described as “meticulously researched… engagingly written… universally relevant and hard to fault.”

Currently, Margaret Heffernan is a Professor of Practice at the University of Bath, Lead Faculty for the Forward Institute’s Responsible Leadership Program. She holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Bath and continues to write for the Financial Times and the Huffington Post.

In this live interview, Maria Ressa and Margaret Heffernan will discuss leadership, management, and adapting to change in a time of crisis and uncertainty. 

Rappler+ members will be able to join the private Q&A after the interview on February 2 (Wednesday), 7 pm Manila time. If you want to attend, join Rappler+ and gain access to other events like this. Members get exclusive content and become part of a global community of people who believe in the power of independent journalism. Register for the event here (note only members will be approved to join). Become a member here. 

#HoldTheLine is a show that features people who fought and won their individual battles for truth-telling and integrity. It’s a show that discusses personal values, courage, and why people choose to do what they do.

Hidalyn Diaz’s historic feat not only brought about inspiration and hope to Filipinos around the world but it also shed light on the state of sports development in the Philippines.

Diaz, who is a product of years of dedication and training, underscores the importance of supporting athletes throughout their entire process, and not just think of the outcome.

Since her return, she has been vocal about issues like the West Philippine Sea and has also said that she forgives Palace officials for wrongfully including her in an ouster plot “matrix.”

Bookmark this page to watch the live interview of Hidilyn Diaz on August 4, 3 pm Manila time. Rappler+ members will be able to join the private Q&A

Kang and Frenkel are authors of the book An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination.

In their book, Kang and Frenkel go behind the scenes to reveal how Facebook enabled our digital world’s most pressing problems, resulting in real-life consequences. The book’s description says, “Their explosive, exclusive reporting led them to a shocking conclusion: The missteps of the last five years were not an anomaly but an inevitability – this is how Facebook was built to perform.”

In Friday’s #HoldTheLine interview, they will discuss the risks involved in seeking to expose a large tech company, why they chose to do it, and what’s next.

Bookmark this page to watch live.

Rappler+ members will be able to attend the private live chat after the interview to ask their questions directly. – Rappler.com

Listen to the podcast version here.

These wasted lives become muddled in our memory as numbers, statistics, and cases.

Artist and Rappler+ member Joy Watford felt a need to remember and humanize these numbers. She said she was “horrified at what was going on, but there were so many victims that they were starting to become a blur.”

In 2019, her desire to make people remember resulted in a personal project called Those We Lost, an online “collection of portraits and stories of the victims of the so-called drug war in the Philippines.” She started painting and writing about them as her way of honoring the memories of the victims. The experience allowed her to feel less helpless and more connected to what was going on.

Joy is a Filipino based in England where she has been living for almost 20 years. In this episode of #HoldTheLine, Maria Ressa talks to her about why she chose to do this and the stories that struck her while pursuing her project.

Through the Rappler+ program, members are able to network with like-minded people and be part of a global community that supports the values of Rappler. It was through a conversation in the Rappler+ private chat group that Maria Ressa learned about Joy Watford’s work. That connection resulted in this feature.

This episode was recorded on May 24, and as attended live by Rappler+ members. Part of the benefits of being a member is access to live show recordings where members can ask questions directly to featured guests. – Rappler.com

Carole Cadwalladr was the first journalist to publish the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica story. Her stories on these giants directed authorities to investigate both companies and eventually led to the closure of Cambridge Analytica.

WATCH: Exclusive interview with Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie

Cadwalladr also founded the Real Facebook Oversight Board, an international ad-hoc independent group, that aims to hold Facebook accountable. Both Cadwalladr and Ressa are a part of this group. Another member is former #HoldTheLine guest, Roger McNamee.

In this interview Cadwalladr reflects on her life as a journalist, the experience of Brexit, and how they all come together in her mission to hold power to account.

Bookmark this page to watch the premiere on Wednesday, May 12, at 7 pm Manila time. – Rappler.com

In her previous role working at Facebook, she witnessed the intentional political decision-making that happened in the company which impacted not only the state of affairs in the US but also of the world. She was faced with pushback, and nearly six months into her role, she felt disempowered to do her job and decided to leave Facebook.

In this #HoldTheLine interview with Rappler’s Maria Ressa, Yael Eisenstat talks about these moments of courage in her work, how she continues to seek what accountability means for big tech companies, and why she persists with her values and working on issues such as the future of democracy and human rights despite the cost. 

She says in the interview: “I’m not me if I’m not fighting for what I believe in.” Yael Eisenstat also discusses the danger of the way our interactions have evolved, where we find ourselves either avoiding conversations about divisive topics or actually having these conversations and having them result in disdain or worse, violence. For the past five years, she’s been holding on to the idea that “American hate is a bigger threat than foreign terrorism.“

Watch the interview on Friday, April 9, at 7 pm.

This interview was recorded on Thursday, April 8. Rappler+ members got the chance to attend the live recording of the show and were able to ask her questions directly after the interview.

You can attend other events like this and receive other member benefits like exclusive content and newsroom access by joining Rappler+. – Rappler.com